io9 | Page 4807 of 5933 | We Come From the Future

Happy 50th Birthday to Sputnik 5, Proof That Space Travel Is Survivable (And Adorable)

Fifty years ago today, the Soviet Union launched the Korabl-Sputnik 2 spacecraft—known as Sputnik 5 in the west—carrying two dogs named Belka and Strelka, along with mice, rats and flies into space. More surprising? Everyone came back alive. The success of Sputnik 5 came at a time when space didn’t seem particularly welcoming to anything…

io9 Sam Biddle Aug 19

Ride a space shuttle rocket booster into space, then plunge back to Earth

In this film, taken a couple of years ago from a rocket booster on the space shuttle Discovery, you can see what it’s like to blast into space, shooting fire and whirling back into the upper atmosphere. The action starts heating up at about the 1:30 minute mark, when we blast off and start zooming…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 19

Concept art pays tribute to the richness, as well as the realism, of George R.R. Martin’s Westeros

For those of us who can’t wait for the HBO series to start seeing every little detail of George R.R. Martin’s Westeros, artist Xavier Garcia has started creating A Song Of Ice And Fire concept art. Here’s his Jon Snow. And yes, that’s The Wall that Jon’s standing on. I have to admit, this isn’t…

Television Charlie Jane Anders Aug 19

The insectoid monsters of the Russian subway system

In a series of doctored photographs called Metronomicon, artist Alexey Andreev recreates the world of H.P. Lovecraft in the Russian subways. It’s the perfect place for Cthulhu and his spawn. Check out our gallery. See more Alexey Andreev’s blog, via Feuilleton (Note: Yes, we’ve posted some of these images before, so consider this an unofficial…

io9 Annalee Newitz Aug 19

Doug Jones explains how to bring humanity to an inhuman character

Nobody is better at playing bizarre creatures of the imagination than Doug Jones, who’s probably Guillermo del Toro’s most frequent collaborator. We asked Jones the secret of bringing creatures to life, and whether we’ll ever see Hellboy’s Abe Sapien again. We asked Jones the secret to playing a memorable non-human, and whether this was different…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Aug 19

Giant star that should have been a black hole became something even stranger

A star went supernova with more than twice the mass needed to ultimately collapse into a black hole. But something weirder happened – the star became a magnetar, an asteroid-sized star with the most powerful magnetic field in the universe. The fates of stars are almost entirely determined by their mass. If a star is…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Aug 19

Hayden Christensen is ready for a “darker” Jumper 2

Ready to watch Hayden Christensen brood and teleport and fight Paladins once again? Christensen says he’s down for Jumper 2, and it sounds as though he’s got a plan for how the sequel would play out. In an interview with MTV Christensen revealed that he was, along with a few other folks were “talking about”…

Movies Meredith Woerner Aug 19

The ferocious blooms of Ireland’s plankton are visible from space

Check out that blue alien swarm off the coast of Ireland. It’s phytoplankton in bloom, in an image captured last spring and released this week. They swirl in the water, almost like an intelligence… with a purpose. [ESA via NationalGeographic]

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Aug 19

Joss Whedon discusses the Captain America script, plus Torchwood takes us inside The New World

Before starting The Avengers, Joss Whedon made sure the script for Captain America made sense. Torchwood unveils the new miniseries and new character. Guillermo del Toro gives his last, bittersweet update on Hellboy III. Spoilers for miles around! Captain America: Joss Whedon discussed his involvement as a script doctor on this upcoming Marvel film. He…

Television Alasdair Wilkins Aug 19

Polaroid Partners with RealD for New 3D Glasses Line

Polaroid is looking to get a piece of the three dimensional pie, inking a deal with 3D tech firm RealD. This means the next pair of 3D frames you pick up in a movie theater could be Polaroid’s curved-lens design. Polaroid claims the curved surfaces provide a superior viewing area for large, theater-caliber screens, and…

Movies Sam Biddle Aug 18

One of the greatest Judge Dredd artists reimagines the world of Tron

Jock is one of our favorite artists, for his work on The Losers, Batman, and especially Judge Dredd. So we’re super excited to see the art he created for a new Tron Legacy prequel comic, Tron: Betrayal. Jock did the cover art for Betrayal, which comes out November 16 from Disney. The actual graphic novel…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders Aug 18

Geeky wedding invitations to make your heart go squee

We’re over the three moons of Tatooine for this Star Wars-inspired wedding invite. So we went searching for other creative couples and their equally awesome science-fiction-inspired invites. And this was what we found: Browncoats, zombies, and Trekkers in love! Ginny McQueen’s sweet and simple Star Wars invitations Via Offbeat Bride. Thanks for the tip Harry…

Movies Meredith Woerner Aug 18

12 Sci-Fi Landscapes Found Right Here on Earth

My favorite thing about sci-fi stories are the otherwordly settings in which they take place, whether they’re on distant alien planets or Earth in some strange future. But you can find some incredible, surreal landscapes right here, right now: These shots, taken over the last decade by photographer Allison Davies, comprise Outerland, a stunning photographic…

Books & Comics Kyle VanHemert Aug 18

Veronica Mars loves a Thing-like mutant in the music video for Yeasayer’s “Madder Red”

In Andreas Nilsson’s video for Yeasayer’s latest single, Kristen Bell is the caretaker of a half-cute, 100% disturbing head-spore creature that looks like it deserves Kurt Russell’s flamethrower. This video tugs your heartstrings in the creepiest way possible. [Via Underwire]

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Aug 18

Fall movie preview: 10 movies we’re sure will rule, and 10 that might surprise us

It’s been a mostly underwhelming movie summer. But fear not, moviegoers! There are still 10 movies left in 2010 that look set to rock your worlds, including Monsters, Skyline and Tron. And there are 10 more that, well…could surprise us. Here’s our guide to the remaining films of 2010, in chronological order: The Last Exorcism…

Movies Charlie Jane Anders Aug 18

Does “defriending” mean that your relationship is over?

In this excerpt from her book The Breakup 2.0, media studies professor Ilana Gershon explains the rituals around breakups on social networks. To defriend or not defriend? What about creating a warning ringtone for your ex? After a break-up, people will remove all traces of their ex from their Facebook profile, deleting photos and wallposts.…

io9 Ilana Gershon Aug 18

Ancient “terror birds” used their mega-beaks to stab prey

Ripped straight from King Kong, creatures known as “terror birds” stalked South America millions of years ago, brandishing impressively huge beaks. New research into how they used this appendage shows just how appropriate their name really is. Andalgalornis steulleti wasn’t a particularly large member of the family Phorusrhacidae — better known as terror birds —…

io9 Tim Barribeau Aug 18

Cosplay on acid — the weirdly redundant art of dimestore scifi costumes

Vintage department store costumes followed a strangely predictable formula: soulless plastic mask + psychedelic torso art with the character’s face again (for absolutely no reason). Here are some of your favorite scifi characters looking like narcissistic lunatics. First off, we have the Alien. It’s like he was his own college mascot. [Via Retrocrush unless otherwise…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Aug 18

Hayden Christensen refuses to “Vanish,” even in the face of the apocalypse

Sounds like both cockroaches and Hayden Christensen will both be around during the end of days. The trailer for Vanishing on 7th Street, by Brad Anderson, erases humankind from the face of the Earth. And yet Christensen remains. Why? Apparently he stayed in the light, which presumably wards off the evil beings that ate up…

Movies Meredith Woerner Aug 18

Vanishing Photos

[Image via Vanishing on 7th Street Facebook] [Image via Vanishing on 7th Street Facebook] [Image via Vanishing on 7th Street Facebook] [Image via Vanishing on 7th Street Facebook] [Image via Vanishing on 7th Street Facebook] [Image via Vanishing on 7th Street Facebook] [Image via Vanishing on 7th Street Facebook] [Image via Vanishing on 7th Street…

io9 Meredith Woerner Aug 18

Happy 50th Birthday to Sputnik 5, Proof That Space Travel Is Survivable (And Adorable)

Ride a space shuttle rocket booster into space, then plunge back to Earth

Concept art pays tribute to the richness, as well as the realism, of George R.R. Martin’s Westeros

The insectoid monsters of the Russian subway system

Doug Jones explains how to bring humanity to an inhuman character

Giant star that should have been a black hole became something even stranger

Hayden Christensen is ready for a “darker” Jumper 2

The ferocious blooms of Ireland’s plankton are visible from space

Joss Whedon discusses the Captain America script, plus Torchwood takes us inside The New World

Polaroid Partners with RealD for New 3D Glasses Line

One of the greatest Judge Dredd artists reimagines the world of Tron

Geeky wedding invitations to make your heart go squee

12 Sci-Fi Landscapes Found Right Here on Earth

Veronica Mars loves a Thing-like mutant in the music video for Yeasayer’s “Madder Red”

Fall movie preview: 10 movies we’re sure will rule, and 10 that might surprise us

Does “defriending” mean that your relationship is over?

Ancient “terror birds” used their mega-beaks to stab prey

Cosplay on acid — the weirdly redundant art of dimestore scifi costumes

Hayden Christensen refuses to “Vanish,” even in the face of the apocalypse

Vanishing Photos

Ryan Coogler Is Shifting ‘Animorphs’ Into a Disney+ Show

No Fooling, ‘Spaceballs 2’ Will Hit Theaters April 2027

I Regret to Inform You That the Artemis II Astronauts Are Having Lots of Screen Time

The First ‘Maul: Shadow Lord’ Reactions Are Most Solid

‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 3 Is Doing What You Hoped

Wearables Are Getting Very Messy

Trump Wants to Start Privatizing TSA in Latest Budget Proposal

Lost Warship From Battle of Copenhagen Found After 225 Years

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

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DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

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MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

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